By: Maria Spong
The Faerie Queene Book 1: The Legende of the Knight of the Redcrosse, depicts women in positions of power ranging from low, disabled positions, to evil Queens, with a number falling in between. The epic is made up of many adventures within one story, giving the readers a diverse cast of characters, including Una, Druessa, and Error: three main characters of very different powers and connotation.
Una
Una, one of the main characters in Book one, represents a number of things; reason, purity, innocence, and chastity, as well as symbolizing the Protestant church, and Queen Elizabeth. When Una and Redcrosse start their journey, they enter into a forest and encounter Error, a dragon like lady needing to be slain. Una, representing rationality, urges Redcrosse to proceed with caution, a warning quickly dismissed. Inevitably, Redcrosse ends up being overpowered by Error with little hope when he needs to turn to Una for help. She tells him to use all his strength and strangle her. Without Una’s rationality, Redcrosse would have ended up dead, defeated by Error.
When Una and Redcrosse start their journey, they enter into a forest and encounter Error, a dragon-like lady needing to be slain. Una, representing rationality, urges Redcrosse to proceed with caution, a warning he quickly dismisses. Inevitably, Redcrosse ends up being overpowered by Error with little hope when turns to Una for help. She tells him to use all his strength and strangle her. Without Una’s rationality, Redcrosse would have ended up dead, defeated by Error. Spenser is writing during a time of change when Christianity is being pushed to the side to make way for Protestantism. This can be seen throughout the poem, but especially in the characters of Una and Error. The piece has also been seen as a sort of love letter to Queen Elizabeth. This adds to the allegorical style of the piece in that the main, ‘good’ character is representative of Queen Elizabeth while the ‘bad’ character, Error, is representative of her christian rival, Mary Queen of Scots.
Error
Error represents Scottish Queen Mary, the catholic church, and women in relation to Eve. Error is described as “the ugly monster plaine, Halfe like a serpent horribly displaide, But th’ other halfe did womans shape retaine, Most loathsome, filthie, foule, and full of vile disdaine” (Canto 1, 14. p. 257). Error, though it originally meant ‘wandering,’ means mistake, and it has its own negative connotation, especially as Error is supposed to represent all women. The church view of women as condemning, from the belief that Eve caused the fall, is reflected in the negative portrayal of Error, yet another example of a magical “woman” in an evil role. When Error is slain, Redcrosse cuts off her head and from it, books and blood pour out, meant to represent the teachings and message of the Roman Catholic church during Spenser’s time. “Her vomit full of bookes and papers” (Canto 1, 20. p. 259), “Her scattred brood… They flocked all about her bleeding wound, and sucked up their dying mothers blood” (Canto 1, 25. p. 260). The books add to the reading of Error as the Catholic church, especially as she is portrayed as a mother and her children drink her blood to the point of bursting. This is a direct allusion to the Eucharist in Catholicism, like drinking the blood of Christ.
Riviere, Briton. Una and the Lion. 1880. https://useum.org/artwork/Una-and-the-Lion-Briton-Riviere-1880
Una
Una gets separated from Redcrosse after he is tricked by a sorcerer, Archimago, who shows him visions of Una laying with a man. Redcrosse is so upset over her loss of innocence that he leaves her behind. This leads to Una setting off to wonder by herself to look for Redcross. She begins her adventure when she befriends a lion and they stay with a blind woman and her deaf, dumb daughter. These are two women without power because of their disabilities and their hierarchical role in society. They have no power whatsoever as Una forces her way into their home without their consent, the lion leading the way. In the night, a man comes in and the lion, thinking he is a burglar, kills him. We find out that this man is a Robin Hood-esque figure who steals and gives these women most of the spoils. This makes the women even more powerless than they were before as their main means of living has been taken from them.
Fidessa
Meanwhile, Redcrosse duels a knight and takes the knight’s companion, Fidessa, to accompany him instead. Together, they stumble upon a tree and stop to rest beneath it. They find out that the tree was a man who had been turned by an evil witch, disguised as a Lady, after turning his first companion into a tree to have him all to herself. Fidessa passes out, and we find out that she is the witch Druessa in disguise, thinking she had been found out because she is the witch from the story. In the story, the man describes her as a beautiful lady till he stumbles across her bathing. “Dimmed her former beauties shining ray, and with foule ugly forme did her disgrace: Then was she faire alone, when none was faire in place”(276). Druessa is a witch who has magical powers and uses them to become beautiful and have power over the men she comes in contact with. When she is discovered, her ugly looks on the outside reflect the evil within. Comparing Druessa to Ina is a perfect example of the conflicting feelings of the church. Druessa symbolizes how Eve is thought to be the cause of the damning evil in the world, while Una is the opposite — the redemption found through Mary.